Thailand's Choices

Could the country have averted
disaster?

As Thailand picks up the pieces after its spectacular crash, debate continues over whether it was avoidable.

Looking back, the problems seem obvious: The real-estate and stock-market booms were bubbles. Deficits of 8% in the current account -- the broadest measure of a nation's foreign trade -- in 1996 and 1997 were signaling problems. Companies had borrowed way too much money that had to be repaid way too quickly.